Why don't you understand that?
by marashaw21
Summary: Eadlyn Schreave has not had a selection, instead she has fallen in love with the boy down the hall, Kile Woodwork. But Eadlyn begins to question if she's doing what's right and if their love will really be able to conquer all.


**Dear Readers,**

 **First off, thank you so much for reading this. It means a lot to me and my writing skills (or lack thereof.) I just want to put this out there that this is a Keadlyn fanfic, obviously, but it is not super fluffy, and is just a whole lot of angst. My poor old Keadlyn heart was broken at the end of the crown, but as a warning, this doesn't really fill that crack. Not that you shouldn't read it, you should because, I mean, it's Keadlyn. Anyway, I was given this prompt anonymously and used the one sentence to mold a story around it so sorry if it's not that well thought out. It would mean so much to me if you would leave a review, because if it gets enough, I may continue on. Thank you so much.**

 **XOXO**

 _ **Prompt: "Why don't you understand that?"**_

It was a rash decision. One I made without much time to think, without much time to really let my heart decided what it was or wasn't ready to feel. I didn't want to go through with it, not in the slightest, but I knew if I was going to have a chance at seeing him happy, this was something I needed to do. I quickly knocked on his door before I had the chance to talk myself out of it. His butler, who I had yet to learn the name of, opened the door.

"Your Highness," He said, bowing down to greet me.

"Good evening, sir. Can I speak to Kile?"

"I'm afraid he's not here, miss. You'll have to try the balcony."

"Thank you so much." I responded already turning to leave.

I lifted up my dress, a long heavy lavender gown, and bolted up the stairs two at a time. I heard him before I saw him. Or, really, I heard the pencil he was using, rather than him. I watched him intensely before I entered. His head was bent down and his eyes seemed to be focused on the paper in such a passionate way that it almost made me turn around and go back the way I came. Almost.

"What are you working on?" I asked as I perched myself against the wall right next to him.

He glanced up at me, just noticing I had appeared, and I swear, the smile on that boy's face extended five inches.

"Just a project I had running through my head before dinner. I figured I'd take advantage of the full moon tonight and use the lighting for my sketch," He eyed me curiously. "What are you doing up here?"

'Looking for you."

"Am I needed?" Kile asked, already packing up his stuff and standing up.

"No, no," I said grabbing his arm to pull him back down. "I just really needed to talk to you."

He turned his whole body so that he was facing me. Without really knowing why, I felt tears collecting in my eyes, and gently rubbed them away before Kile would notice. I obviously didn't do that good of a job because Kile took his thumb and brushed one of the tears that had escaped off my cheek.

"Eady, what's wrong?"

"Kile," I started. "I- I can't be with you anymore."

His whole head jerked to the side in one motion. "What?"

"Don't make me repeat it." I whispered.

"Eadlyn, what did you say?"

"I said I can't be with you anymore Kile!"

"No," He said, standing up again and backing away. "No. Eadlyn, take that back."

"Kile-" I said, moving towards him, my voice breaking as I spoke.

"Eadlyn, no. You can't be serious. You can't- you can't.." I had never seen Kile cry before, I had always thought he was so put together, so optimistic at all times, and even though it was dark out, and even though it could have been a trick of the light, I thought I saw a tear fall from his chin.

"Kile," I urged. "Let me explain. Please let me explain."

But it was like he hadn't heard me. "Do you not love me anymore? Is that was this is?"

My breath shuddered as I spoke. "No, how could you think that?"

"How could I not!"

"Kile, it's not that. Not at all."

He stepped closer to me finally, putting both his hands in mine. "Then tell me, Eady. What is it?"

"I can't make you happy."

He laughed then, throwing his head back in a boyish manner. "You're kidding me, right?"

It felt like my tongue had been tied together so I just shook my head. I looked down at his shoes, the one he always wore, even though he had over fifty other pairs just like them. It was then I realized it may be the last time I would ever see them.

"Eadlyn, you make me the happiest person on the entire planet. When I'm with you, it's like I'm on top of the world. _**Why don't you understand that?**_ "

I tried to tug away from him, then. Tried to run away. Although I knew this conversation was going to be hard, I didn't realize just how much it was going to destroy me. Kile knew what I was doing and grabbed onto my wrists even harder.

"Eadlyn, look at me. Please." He pleaded.

I glanced up at him then, and his crystal blue eyes held me captive and made me fall in love with him all over again. I swallowed back my chocked sobs and tried to find my voice in the midst of all the confusion pulsing through my veins and pounding in my head.

"Kile, I make you happy right now. I make you happy today. But what happens tomorrow? Next year? Twenty years down the road? What happens when I can't make you feel that way ever again?"

Kile pushed his hair back to clear his vision. "Eadlyn, that is never going to-"

"No," I said silencing him. "Let me finish. What happens when the workload becomes too much for you to handle? When you realize this isn't what you want, anymore. That I'm not what you want anymore. What happens when we start to fall out of love with each other because this relationship is too public? What happens when we are so exhausted from the work that we don't have any time to spend with one another? Then what? What will happen when you realize that you had another dream, another passion, that you didn't pursue, because you thought you were in love with a girl-"

"I don't think I'm in love with you," He sneered. "I am in love with you, Eadlyn. Don't try to degrade our love."

"That's not what I'm doing. I'm saying that I don't want to change you into somebody you're not. I don't want to see the wrinkles and the gray hair come early from all the stress this job brings. I don't want to witness you not laughing and not smiling anymore because everything has become too hard. Because this life doesn't make you happy. Go out and do the things you love. I don't want to hold you back. I don't want to keep you from the happiness you deserve."

"But you are my happiness, Eadlyn." Kile breathed.

"But I won't be forever."

"How do you know that? How do you know that we won't be the greatest story ever told? I love you and I can learn to fall in love with this job, too."

I shook my head once more. "That's what I mean, Kile. You said 'I can learn'. That's so messed up. You should do the things you love, not learn to love something else. I couldn't live with myself if I kept you from becoming who you need to be."

"So you're being selfish," He said, but I saw a hint of a sad smile play his lips. "What if who I need to be belongs with you?"

"No, Kile. You need to be a man who is always involved and always innovative. You need to be the man who revolutionizes the world and creates stories to tell. If you stayed with me, you wouldn't be that man, and you need to be him."

"But I love you." He said, closing the space between us and cupping both his hands around my face.

"And I love you," I said. "I am so madly madly in love with you."

He glanced to the side then, his adam's apple bobbing. "So why isn't that enough?"

I opened my mouth to speak but his mouth was clamped on mine before I had time to even think of the words I wanted to say. I needed to push him off. I needed to tell him that this wouldn't work. I needed to tell him that I would turn him into a monster. But I wanted to keep kissing him. And for once, my heart was the one that controlled my actions.

Kile moved closer, deepening the kiss as his hands slid from my face to clasp around my waist, his tongue parted my lips and every word I ever spoke was sucked right out of me and into him. But even with all the I love you's, all the I need you's, all the I want you's, all the apologies I wished I could say, I didn't think it was enough to show him how I really felt. When we parted, our breathing was heavy and our noses had collided. There were tears coming out of both of our eyes, running down our cheeks. I think we both realized it had been our goodbye.

"Just stay with me one more night, Eady." Kile said.

My brain screamed no, knew it was a bad idea. But my mouth, that traitor, said yes. And so I took Kile's hand and followed him down the stairs.

...


End file.
